home again

we had a wonderful family vacation to seagrove beach. sb has been our go-to-destination for the past 15 years or so. it is such a wonderful area and the beaches are beautiful. all of the little beach towns are fairly close together, so it is really easy to town-hop for shopping, beaching, eating, etc. on our way down there, we heard the weekly forecast and it looked very very dim. rain. every day. for the next week. but somebody else had different plans in store for us... it rained ONE morning. that's it. the rest of the time was sweet, sweet sunshine.

on the one morning that it did rain, mom and i went out for a walk and got caught in the downpour on the way back. we finally got back to the condo and looked like we had entered the most intense wet t-shirt contest ever. we felt pretty hardcore.

highlights:

1. reading beachside. finished twilight and started the fountainhead. talk about opposites :) i've been telling myself i'll read the fountainhead for some time now. and despite the fact that i was semi-intimidated by it, so far i really like it. i'm about 250 pages in and going strong.

2. "the blue giraffe". a fabulous art and jewelry shop in neighboring watercolor, fl, which singlehandedly inspired me to PAINT PAINT PAINT!! by far my most favorite shop in that area. www.thebluegiraffeon30a.com if you're interested.

3. angelina's pizza. this little pizza place stole our hearts on our very first trip to seagrove. they make the best pizzas around, and have such a cozy atmosphere. nothing fancy, just good food. we ate there twice this time :) on our first night... and our last.

4. man vs ocean. on our last day, the ocean waves were especially sizable. nothing compared to hawaii or anything, but big enough to toss you around and knock the girls loose from the swimsuit top... at one point, our entire family was out there, trying to bodysurf the waves and/or just survive getting hit by one. SO MUCH FUN. and then... we spotted another family riding the waves nearby... a family of s t i n g r a y s. so we "calmly" made our way back to our safe, comfy towels and continued our sun-soaking regimen.

5. quote of the trip. "i had no idea i was so cool!" -dad

so here i am. back in memphis. happy to see my cat, zoe, but wishing i was still on the beach. one thing i have to comfort me is a LOT of reading choices that i collected today. of course i still have the fountainhead, which i plan on diving into after this post. at borders this afternoon, i bought 2 magazines, metropolis and vogue. architecture & design and fashion. fabulous!! i picked up the memphis flyer at lunch with the fam at the bagel company, and i have a new women's health that rachel so graciously housed for me while i was out of town. my goal is to stay motivated for a bikini body even though my beach vacations are over for this year. i am also going to make an effort to actually READ the magazines i get, instead of flipping through and only looking at the pictures. there's interesting stuff to be learned and i intend on doing so.

it is good to be home. there's something comforting about your own house, your own spaces, that even vacations can't compete with. yet without the existence of both, each would lose its meaning. i am so thankful for a wonderful family to share that vacation with, and a wonderful place to come home to.